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Regulatory Advice 2: Registration of current providers for 2019-20
Guidance for providers about the application process
Reference OfS 2018.04
Enquiries to [email protected]
Date of publication 28 February 2018
Contents
Introduction 1
PART A: What do I need to do to register? 2
Section 1: Am I eligible to register with the OfS? 3
Section 2: Which benefits do I want to access? 6
Section 3: When should I apply? 8
Section 4: What evidence do I need to provide? 11
Section 5: How do I complete an application form? 25
Section 6: How do I submit my application? 27
PART B: How will we assess your application to register? 28
Section 7: Have you submitted a complete application and are you eligible for registration? 29
Section 8: What are the evidence requirements for each provider? 30
Section 9: Do you satisfy the initial conditions of registration and what is the risk that you will breach
conditions in future? 34
Section 10: What is the outcome of your application? 35
Section 11: What do you need to do to stay registered? 36
PART C: Annexes 37
Annex A: Am I eligible for registration? 37
Annex B: Initial conditions of registration 40
Annex C: Template for producing a self-assessment on guidance on consumer protection law 43
Annex D: Template for a student protection plan 46
Annex E: Public interest governance principles 49
Annex F: Template for producing a self-assessment on management and governance: providers
designated for student support by the Secretary of State 51
Annex G: Template for producing a self-assessment on management and governance: higher
education institutions funded by HEFCE 56
Annex H: Template for producing a self-assessment on management and governance: further
education colleges and sixth form colleges 60
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Regulatory Advice 2: Registration of current providers for 2019-20: Guidance for providers about the application process
Introduction
1. This regulatory advice sets out guidance for existing providers of higher education in England that
want to register with the Office for Students (OfS). It applies to you if you are:
a. A higher education institution funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England
(HEFCE) during 2017-18, or that will be funded by the OfS in 2018-19.
b. A further education college or a sixth form college funded by HEFCE in 2017-18, or that will be
directly funded by the OfS in 2018-19.
c. A provider designated for student support by the Secretary of State and regulated by the
Department for Education (DfE) in 2018-19 (sometimes referred to as an ‘alternative provider’).
2. The guidance is intended to help you to:
a. Check whether you are eligible to register with the OfS.
b. Decide which benefits you want to access and so which category of the OfS Register you want
to join.
c. Compile and submit the evidence needed to support your application.
d. Understand how the OfS will assess your application and tell you the outcome of the registration
process.
3. This guidance should be read in conjunction with the OfS’s regulatory framework (OfS 2018.01)
which sets out in full the approach that we will take to the registration and regulation of providers.
If there are any inconsistencies between the regulatory framework and this document then the
regulatory framework will prevail.
4. If you are a new provider not currently funded or regulated by HEFCE, or regulated by the DfE,
guidance on the registration process as it will apply for you has been published in separate
regulatory advice (OfS 2018.05).
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PART A: What do I need to do to register?
If you want to register with the OfS you need to:
1 Check that you are eligible to register
See section 1: Am I eligible to register with the OfS?
2 Decide which benefits you want to access
See section 2: Which benefits do I want to access?
3 Decide when you need to apply
See section 3: When should I apply?
4 Compile the evidence required for your application
See section 4: What evidence do I need to provide?
We need you to provide:
your access and participation plan or access and participation statement
information about your approach to consumer protection law
your student protection plan
information about your management and governance arrangements.
5 Complete an application form
See section 5: How do I complete an application form?
We will provide you with an application form that contains the information that we
already hold about you.
We need you to check this information and fill in any gaps.
6 Submit your application form and the evidence required for your application
See section 6: How do I submit my application?
You will be able to submit your application from Tuesday 3 April 2018.
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Section 1: Am I eligible to register with the OfS?
Why do I need to register with the OfS?
5. You will need to register with the OfS if you want to:
a. Be officially recognised as providing higher education in England.
b. Access public grant funding from the OfS or from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through
Research England.
c. Access the student support system for eligible undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
d. Maintain or make an application to the Home Office to recruit international students with a Tier
4 sponsorship licence.
e. Apply for degree awarding powers (DAPs) and/or university title.
6. If you want to access any of the benefits listed above in paragraph 5 and you offer higher
education courses directly to students (i.e. you register your own higher education students and
receive payment directly from students or directly from the student support system on behalf of
your students), you must register in your own right regardless of whether or not:
a. You have your own degree awarding powers.
b. Your courses are validated by another provider or awarding body.
c. You validate another provider’s courses.
d. You also deliver some courses under a subcontractual agreement (sometimes known as a
franchise agreement, where the lead provider is receiving payment from, or on behalf of,
students) in addition to the courses you deliver directly to your own students.
e. You are delivering some of your own courses through a subcontractual agreement with
another delivery partner.
Do I have to register if I deliver higher education as part of a subcontractual arrangement?
7. If you deliver all of your higher education courses on behalf of another provider under a
subcontractual arrangement, you will not normally be required to register in your own right,
although you may do so if you wish. Your students will be able to access student support due to
the registration of the lead provider.
8. However, if you hold a Tier 4 sponsorship licence, or are included as part of another higher
education provider’s licence, you will need to register separately to comply with the Home Office
requirement that all individual sites must have separate educational oversight.
9. If you deliver higher education through a subcontractual arrangement, we will use evidence from
your lead provider(s) to assess whether you satisfy some of the ongoing conditions of registration.
10. A subcontractual arrangement is where a course is made available by one provider (the lead
provider) with some or all of the teaching or higher education provision, subcontracted out to a
different provider (the delivery provider).
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11. In a subcontractual arrangement, the students studying with the delivery provider remain students
of the lead provider. A course is considered to be part of a subcontractual arrangement if:
a. There is a written, legally binding agreement in place between you and the lead provider that
sets out the conditions of the arrangement.
b. The student has a full contractual relationship with the lead provider for the provision of the
course.
c. Typically, the fee and/or fee loan is paid to the lead provider.
d. The student is registered as a student of the lead provider and is included in its data returns.
12. The course will usually have been designed by the lead provider, which will impose its own
requirements for teaching and assessment. The lead provider has full contractual responsibility to
the student for the provision of educational services, even though its staff are not teaching (all of)
the course or providing all of the educational services. Usually, the lead provider will also be the
awarding body for the course qualification, but exceptionally this may be a third party1.
13. This does not include informal arrangements that are not governed by contracts between
providers, such as those that might exist for shared teaching between constituent parts of the
University of London.
Do I have to register if I am a School-Centred Initial Teacher Training provider?
14. If you are a School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) provider offering Initial Teacher
Training (ITT) courses you do not have to register with the OfS to enable your trainees to access
the student support system. You will continue to be regulated by the Department for Education,
and will be required to comply with the criteria for charging fees. SCITTs and other ITT providers
that offer other higher education courses will be required to register with the OfS if they wish to
receive any of the benefits of registration.
Do I have to register if I only want my students to be able to access the Disabled Students’ Allowance?
15. If you do not teach any courses that are eligible for student support but want your eligible
students to be able to access the Disabled Students’ Allowance you will need to register with the
OfS. However, some of the ongoing conditions of registration will not be applied to you.
Am I eligible for registration?
16. You can only register with the OfS if you are, or intend to become, an English higher education
provider. We will consider three elements to determine whether an entity is an English higher
education provider:
a. It provides ‘higher education’.
1 The usual exception here is apprenticeships, where a further education college may be in the lead (determined
by Education and Skills Funding Agency/Institute for Apprenticeships) but with delivery of a higher education
qualification subcontracted to a higher education provider that awards the qualification on successful
completion.
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b. Its activities are ‘principally carried on in England’.
c. It is an ‘institution’.
17. More information about each of these elements is provided in Annex A.
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Section 2: Which benefits do I want to access?
18. The benefits attached to the different categories of the OfS Register are as follows:
You need to register in the Approved (fee cap) category if you want these
benefits:
You need to register in the Approved category if you want these benefits:
Official recognition as a provider of higher education in England
Yes Yes
Eligibility for OfS public grant funding
Yes No
Eligibility for UKRI public grant funding provided by Research England
Yes No
Eligibility for Research Council funding
Yes – automatic eligibility Yes – via a separate UKRI eligibility
process
Eligibility for student support funding and fee limits
With an approved access and participation plan, may charge fees up to the higher amount for eligible undergraduate and postgraduate initial teacher training courses. With an access and participation statement, may charge fees up to the basic amount for eligible undergraduate courses and postgraduate initial teacher training courses. Eligible undergraduate students on eligible courses are able to access student fee loan support up to these fee levels. Eligible postgraduate students are able to access student support. Eligible students can access Disabled Students’ Allowance.
May charge uncapped fees and, for eligible undergraduate and postgraduate initial teacher training courses, eligible students are able to access student support up to the basic fee level. Eligible postgraduate students are able to access student support. Eligible students can access Disabled Students’ Allowance.
Eligibility to apply for Tier 4 sponsorship licence (subject to Home Office rules)
Yes Yes
Eligibility to apply for degree awarding powers and/or university title
Yes Yes
19. We will ask you to tell us on your application form which category of the Register you are applying
to join and, if you are applying to the Approved (fee cap) category, whether you intend to charge
fees above the basic amount. The basic and higher fee levels that you can charge are different
depending on whether you have a Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF)
award. These are set out in the table below.
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Basic fee amount (£) Higher fee amount (£)
Providers without a TEF award
Providers with a TEF award2
Providers without a TEF award
Providers with a TEF award
Full-time students 6,000 6,165 9,000 9,250
Part-time students 4,500 4,625 6,750 6,935
Erasmus+/study year abroad
900 920 1,350 1,385
Sandwich placement year
1,200 1,230 1,800 1,850
20. You will also be able to indicate whether you want to apply for degree awarding powers once you
have a decision about registration. Separate guidance about the process for applying for degree
awarding powers will be published in the spring of 2018. When we tell you our decision about
your application for registration we will also tell you whether your application for DAPs can
proceed.
2 This includes provisional TEF awards.
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Section 3: When should I apply?
21. Your application for registration relates to the students you will recruit for the 2019-20 academic
year (i.e. students beginning their studies between 1 August 2019 and 31 July 2020).
22. You can apply for registration at any time from Tuesday 3 April 2018.
23. You should plan the timing of your application to fit with your own student recruitment cycle to
ensure that you can receive a registration decision in time to communicate with applicants about
fee levels (where these will be subject to a fee limit) and the student support that will be available.
You should be clear in your communication with applicants that fee levels and the availability of
student support and fee levels (where these will be subject to a fee limit) are subject to a decision
about registration.
24. If you are applying to receive public grant funding for the first time from 1 August 2019 you will
also need to apply by a date that will allow us to calculate funding allocations.
Early student recruitment cycles
25. If students have to apply for all, or some, of your courses starting in 2019-20 by the early UCAS
deadline in October 2018, or if they directly apply to you at this time (normally this applies if you
offer medical, dentistry, veterinary or conservatoire provision) you should apply for registration by
Monday 30 April 2018. We will let you know if we think this application date applies to you but
you will need to make sure you apply in good time.
26. If you apply by this date you will receive a registration decision and, if successful, be listed on the
OfS’s Register by mid-July 2018.
Standard student recruitment cycles
27. If you don’t have any courses with early application dates and students will apply for your courses
starting in 2019-20 by the standard UCAS deadline in January 2019, or they apply to you directly
at this time or later, then you should apply by Wednesday 23 May 2018. If you apply by this date
you will receive a registration decision and, if successful, be listed on the OfS’s Register by mid-
September 2018.
Communicating with your applicants
28. You must take account of guidance published by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) if
you are communicating with applicants before you have a registration decision. We suggest that
you use the following or similar wording:
‘For students to be eligible for funding from Student Finance England, they must be studying on
an eligible course at a provider registered with the Office for Students (OfS).The OfS is the new
independent regulator for higher education in England and all higher education providers need to
register with the OfS for their students to be eligible for student support in the 2019-20 academic
year. The OfS will start publishing providers on its Register from July 2018. We have made an
application to register and expect a decision by [July/September] 2018. No provider will be able to
confirm whether student support is available until it has a decision from the OfS. Visit
www.officeforstudents.org.uk for more information.’
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Applications for the Approved (fee cap) category
29. Regardless of when your students make applications to you, if you are applying to the Approved
(fee cap) category to access public grant funding for the first time then you will need to apply by
Friday 31 August 2018 at the latest. This is to ensure we can collect data from you in time for us
to calculate funding allocations for 2019-20.
30. Applications for registration after this date will still be assessed, and if you are successful you will
be registered but you might not be included in funding allocations until 2020-21.
31. If you apply for registration in the Approved (fee cap) category and do not meet the additional
requirements for that category but do satisfy the initial conditions of registration for the Approved
category you can choose to be registered as an Approved provider.
What happens if I don’t apply by those dates?
32. These are not absolute deadlines. If you apply after these dates we will still assess your
application but a later application will result in a later decision and date at which, if successful,
you will be listed on the OfS’s Register.
33. The table below sets out the suggested applications dates:
Apply at any time but by: If: Receive decision by:
Monday 30 April 2018 You have an early student recruitment cycle
Mid-July 2018
Wednesday 23 May 2018 You have a standard student recruitment cycle
Mid-September 2018
Friday 31 August 2018 You want to receive public grant funding for the first time in 2019-20
Mid-November 2018
Tier 4 sponsorship
34. The Home Office will provide further information about transitional arrangements for 2018-19 in
due course. In the meantime, if your educational oversight is due for renewal you should follow
current guidance3. The requirements for Tier 4 sponsorship remain a matter for the Home Office.
What should I do if I am expecting to merge with another provider?
35. If you are expecting to merge with another provider this will have implications for your application
to register. We expect that this will generally relate to further education colleges. The approach
you take to applying for registration will depend on when your merger is due to take place and
when you want to be able to communicate with applicants. Your options are:
a. Wait until the merger has taken place and apply to register once it is complete.
b. You, and the provider you are due to merge with, register separately and then the lead
provider reports the merger once it has completed. This means that both providers would have
access to the benefits of registration if the merger did not proceed or was delayed.
3 See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sponsor-a-tier-4-student-guidance-for-educators.
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c. The lead provider registers and reports the merger once it has taken place. This option would
mean that the provider due to dissolve would not be able to access the benefits of registration
if for any reason the merger did not proceed or was delayed.
36. Options b and c would mean that we would need to reassess some of the ongoing conditions of
registration that were imposed during the initial registration process.
What happens if I don’t apply to register?
37. If you do not register, any new students you recruit for 2019-20 will not be able to access the
student support system. If you are eligible to receive public grant funding this would also end on
31 July 2019. You would no longer be eligible to hold a Tier 4 sponsorship licence once your
current licence expires and you would not be officially recognised as part of the English higher
education sector.
38. If you currently hold degree awarding powers or university college or university title, we may
review your suitability to hold these if you choose not to register.
39. If you decide not to register there will be arrangements to ensure that your current students can
continue to access the student support system until they have completed their studies, provided
that you meet the conditions we set using the powers available to us, or to DfE, under the
previous regulatory system. You will be able to continue to recruit students but they would not
have access to the student support system.
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Section 4: What evidence do I need to provide?
40. To be registered, you must demonstrate that you satisfy the initial conditions of registration that
apply to the category of the Register that you are applying to join. A full list of the initial conditions
of registration for each category is provided in Annex B.
41. We will use evidence previously collected or generated by HEFCE, or by DfE, to decide whether
you satisfy some of the initial conditions of registration. In four areas we need you to submit new
evidence as set out in the table below.
You need to provide the following new evidence if you want to
register in the Approved (fee cap) category:
You need to provide the following new evidence if you want to
register in the Approved category:
Access and participation conditions A1 or A2
An access and participation plan if you want to charge fees above
the basic amount
An access and participation statement if you want to charge
fees up to the basic amount
An access and participation statement
Guidance on consumer protection law condition C1
A self-assessment A self-assessment
Student protection plan condition C3
A student protection plan A student protection plan
Management and governance conditions E1 and E2
A self-assessment A self-assessment
42. The sections that follow provide more detailed guidance about each of these evidence
requirements.
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Access and participation conditions A1 or A2
Condition A1 An Approved (fee cap) provider intending to charge fees above the basic amount to qualifying persons on qualifying courses must:
i. Have in force an access and participation plan approved by the OfS in
accordance with the Higher Education and Research Act 2017
(HERA).
ii. Take all reasonable steps to comply with the provisions of the plan.
Condition A2 An Approved provider or an Approved (fee cap) provider charging fees up to the basic amount to qualifying persons on qualifying courses must:
i. Publish an access and participation statement.
ii. Update and re-publish this statement on an annual basis.
Access and participation plans
43. You will need an approved access and participation plan if you want your students to be able to
access student loan funding up to the higher amount. Access and participation plans perform a
similar function to the access agreements that were previously agreed with the Director of Fair
Access of Higher Education.
44. If you are a provider delivering higher education through a subcontractual arrangement you do
not need to produce your own access and participation plan but your lead provider must name
you in its own plan to ensure that the condition that applies to you can be satisfied.
45. Separate guidance about how to produce an access and participation plan has been published by
the Director for Fair Access and Participation (OfS 2018.03).
46. Once you have produced your access and participation plan you will need to submit it with your
application form and the other evidence set out in this section.
Access and participation statements
47. An ‘access and participation statement’ is a statement setting out your commitment to supporting
access and participation in higher education by students from disadvantaged backgrounds and
under-represented groups.
48. By ‘access and participation’ we mean the measures that you put in place to ensure equality of
opportunity in:
a. Applications from future students to your provider, and to other higher education providers.
b. The student success and progression outcomes for your current students.
49. Your statement should be informed by the context in which you operate and the characteristics
and needs of your students. It is for you to determine the content of the statement, but the
Director for Fair Access and Participation has published advice for providers on good practice in
relation to access and participation statements (OfS 2018.07).
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50. Unlike an access and participation plan, the content and ambition of a statement will not be
approved by the Director for Fair Access and Participation; however, the statement does need to
be published on your website.
51. If you participated in the TEF and produced an access and participation statement for this you
can use this as evidence for our registration process.
52. Once you have produced your access and participation statement you will need to publish it on
your website and submit it with your application form and the other evidence set out in this
section.
Postgraduate only providers
53. If you do not teach students on courses subject to the regulated undergraduate tuition fee regime
you do not need to produce an access and participation plan or statement.
Guidance on consumer protection law condition C1
Condition C1 The provider must demonstrate that in developing and implementing its
policies, procedures and terms and conditions it has given due regard to
relevant guidance about how to comply with consumer protection law.
54. To register you will need to submit a self-assessment of how you have given due regard to
relevant guidance about how to comply with consumer protection law. Our assessment of this
condition is not a judgement of whether you are compliant with consumer protection law – we are
assessing whether you use relevant guidance appropriately.
55. As we assess your self-assessment we will also take into account any other evidence about your
approach to consumer protection law that was collected or produced by HEFCE, or by DfE.
56. By ‘self-assessment’ we mean your own evaluation of how your organisation meets the condition,
why you have reached this conclusion and the evidence you are using to make this assessment.
A suggested template is provided at Annex C.
57. By ‘relevant guidance’ we mean the CMA’s publication ‘UK higher education providers: Advice on
consumer protection law’4. If you have used guidance other than that published by the CMA, you
will need to demonstrate how this is appropriate.
58. You may find it helpful to take account of the compliance checklists5 in the CMA guidance when
producing your self-assessment. Completion of the checklists does not in itself constitute a self-
assessment and these should not need be submitted as evidence.
4 See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-consumer-law-advice-for-providers.
5 Checklists can be found in Annex A, pages 55 to 59, of https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-
education-consumer-law-advice-for-providers.
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Student protection plan condition C3
Condition C3 The provider must: i. Have in force and publish a student protection plan which has been
approved by the OfS as appropriate for its assessment of the
regulatory risk presented by the provider and for the risk to
continuation of study of all of its students.
ii. Take all reasonable steps to implement the provisions of the plan if
the events set out in the plan take place.
iii. Inform the OfS of events, except for the closure of an individual
course, that require the implementation of the provisions of the plan.
59. To register you will need to produce and submit a student protection plan (SPP) as part of your
application. We will approve this as part of the registration process and you will need to publish it
on your website.
60. Your SPP is intended to provide assurance to your current and future students, and to us, that
you have in place appropriate arrangements to protect the quality and continuation of study for
your students. It should be written with students in mind as the audience and should set out your
approach to protecting their interests transparently and clearly.
61. Your SPP must be tailored to your specific circumstances and be based on your assessment of
the extent of the risks to the continuation of study for your students. It should not take a ‘one size
fits all’ approach, recognising that the risks to continuation of study and the impact of changes will
be different for students with different needs, characteristics and circumstances. You should have
regard as a minimum to the possible different needs of students sharing particular protected
characteristics (as defined in the Equality Act 2010) when preparing your SPP. It should include
the actions you are taking to mitigate those risks.
62. A template is provided at Annex D. Your plan will need to consist of the following four elements:
Your assessment of the range of risks to the continuation of study for your students, how these risks may differ based on your students’ needs, characteristics and circumstances, and the likelihood that those risks will crystallise
63. You should set out the reasons for your assessment and, in doing so, we would expect you to
consider the likelihood of non-continuation of study for your students where:
a. The provider as a whole is no longer able to operate, or has decided to cease operating.
b. The provider has lost the power to award degrees or has lost validation for one or more of its
courses.
c. The provider is, or expects to be, operating with probationary degree awarding powers.
d. One or more of the locations at which you deliver courses to students is no longer available,
particularly if you are considering closure or significant change to a location.
e. You are no longer able to deliver courses to your students in one or more subject areas and/or
departments.
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f. You are no longer able to deliver one or more courses to your students, particularly if you are
considering course closures in the next three years.
g. You are no longer able to deliver material components of one or more courses, particularly if
there are areas of particular vulnerability, such as single person dependencies for teaching.
h. You are no longer able to deliver one or more modes of study to your students, particularly if
you are considering withdrawing a mode of study.
i. You are no longer able to recruit or teach a particular type of student, such as international
students.
64. Your assessment may demonstrate that risk in some of these areas is not sufficiently likely to
crystallise to require specific mitigation. For example, your financial performance and business
continuity plans may mean that your assessment is that the provider as a whole is unlikely to be
unable to operate.
The measures that you have put in place to mitigate those risks that you consider to be reasonably likely to crystallise
65. Your SPP will need to acknowledge that a single measure to allow students to continue their
studies might not be uniformly appropriate for each student in each instance. Students from
different backgrounds will have different needs; for some students alternative courses will be
acceptable, while others will wish to transfer. Some students will need tailored support whatever
measure is adopted.
66. Examples of measures to preserve continuation of study for your students include, but are not
limited to:
a. A commitment that you will ‘teach out’ all of your students currently registered on a course.
This might be an appropriate approach if you decide for strategic reasons to discontinue a
course, or a subject area, or a department, and you have the financial resources to teach
students through to the end of their course. Teach out might be a less appropriate approach
where you, or we, have concerns about standards or the quality of the academic experience
on a course.
b. A commitment by another provider (normally your validating partner, but possibly one or more
other providers in a nearby location) to teach out all of your students currently registered on a
course. We might ask to see confirmation of any such commitments from other providers if we
consider that the risk of non-continuation of study for your students is likely to crystallise.
c. A commitment that you will offer other, alternative, courses from your portfolio to affected
students. This might not be an appropriate approach for students who wish to study the
particular course or subject that is being discontinued. In such circumstances you would also
need to be mindful of CMA guidance in seeking to implement such a change of course.
d. A commitment that you will make every effort to support individual students to find an
alternative course at another provider. Support for such ‘transfer of study’ is likely to include,
but not be limited to, certification of credit or a record of academic achievement to facilitate
admission to the receiving provider.
67. We would expect your SPP to set out the measures you will put in place to preserve continuation
of study for students on courses where you are a sole or rare supplier, or where your provision
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might be considered ‘niche’. Your student protection plan should also cover students taught by
your delivery partners in subcontractual arrangements.
68. If you are a further education college or a sixth form college your SPP does not need to include
measures to preserve continuation of study for students in the event of whole provider closure
because your principal regulator, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), will provide
us with assurance about this.
Information about the policy you have in place to refund tuition fees and other costs to your students in the event that you are no longer able to preserve continuation of study
69. All providers are required to have a refund and compensation policy. There will be circumstances
in which it is not possible to preserve continuation of study for one or more of your students and,
in these circumstances, you will need to refund a student’s fees and other relevant costs. Your
refund and compensation policy should linked to, or included in, your SPP and should make
provision for:
a. Refunds for students in receipt of a tuition fee loan from the Student Loans Company.
b. Refunds for students who pay their own tuition fees.
c. Refunds for students whose tuition fees are paid by a sponsor.
d. The payment of additional travel costs for students affected by a change in the location of their
course or funding to offset additional costs incurred by relocation (for example, students with
caring responsibilities whose childcare costs increase significantly, perhaps by transferring
from a provider with a subsidised crèche to one without).
e. Commitments to honour student bursaries.
70. Your refund and compensation policy should also include provision for the payment of
compensation to students to cover, for example:
a. Maintenance costs and lost time where it is not possible to preserve continuation of study.
b. Tuition and maintenance costs where students have to transfer courses or provider.
71. Your SPP should set out how you will ensure that you can deliver the financial implications of
your refund and compensation policy. Your assessment may demonstrate that you have
adequate cash reserves to underwrite likely costs. Where this is not the case, you may need to
take out insurance, or to establish a ‘student refund and compensation’ fund to cover likely costs.
We understand that you may not have such arrangements in place when you apply for
registration so where your SPP indicates that they could be necessary we may apply an ongoing
condition of registration requiring these arrangements to be in place by 31 July 2019.
Information about how you will communicate with students about your student protection plan
72. Your SPP will need to contain information about the arrangements you have put in place to
communicate the provisions of your plan to current and future students. You should indicate in
your plan how you will share it with, and explain it to, current and future students, including by:
publication on your website
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inclusion with the material you provide to applicants when you make an offer to study on
a course
drawing the attention of current students to your plan on a regular basis.
73. You should also indicate in your plan:
a. How you will share it with and explain it to your staff, including by:
publication on staff intranet pages
inclusion in your policy and process documents for course changes and closure
inclusion in relevant staff training activities.
b. How you will work with your current students in the development of your plan to ensure that it
is a living document that is reviewed and updated appropriately as your risk assessment
changes. You should indicate in your plan:
how often it will be reviewed
how it will be reviewed
how your students will be involved in its review.
c. The arrangements you will put in place to communicate with affected students should the plan
need to be implemented. You should indicate in your plan how students will be informed and
involved when you need to implement any of the provisions of your plan, including:
a minimum number of days’ notice to be given to students in the event of course,
campus or planned provider closure
the range of collective and individual communication mechanisms you will use to ensure
that all students, regardless of their circumstances, are able to actively engage with
discussions about the implementation of your plan
the availability of independent advice for students
how students may make a complaint about the way you are implementing your plan.
Management and governance conditions E1 and E2
Condition E1 The provider’s governing documents must uphold the public interest governance principles that are applicable to the provider.
Condition E2 The provider must have in place adequate and effective management and governance arrangements to:
i. Operate in accordance with its governing documents.
ii. Deliver, in practice, the public interest governance principles that are
applicable to it.
iii. Provide and fully deliver the higher education courses advertised.
iv. Continue to comply with all conditions of its registration.
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74. You will need to demonstrate, through a self-assessment, that your governing documents uphold
the public interest governance principles and that you have adequate and effective management
and governance arrangements in place. You will also need to demonstrate that you are owned
and managed by ‘fit and proper’ persons.
75. As we assess your self-assessment we will also take into account any other evidence about the
adequacy and effectiveness of your management and governance arrangements that was
previously collected or produced by HEFCE or by DfE.
76. We recognise that providers have different levels of complexity (based on factors such as legal
form, group structure, partnerships, locations, size etc.) and we do not expect to see a single
model of management and governance arrangements that is appropriate for all providers. In
particular for small providers it is likely that the governing body, or its equivalent (which might be
the senior management team), might undertake all of the functions that in a larger provider would
be delegated to committees. However, arrangements that may be appropriate for small providers
might not be appropriate for larger or more complex providers, or those with degree awarding
powers or university title.
Your self-assessment of how your governing documents uphold the public interest governance principles and the extent to which your management and governance arrangements are adequate and effective
77. By ‘governing documents’ we mean the documents that describe any of your objectives or
values, your powers, who has a role in decision making within your provider, how you take
decisions on how to carry out your functions and how you monitor the exercise of those functions.
78. Depending on your legal form, your governing documents may include a Royal Charter, statutes
and ordinances, memorandum and articles of association, or instruments of government and/or a
trust deed or deeds.
79. Unless you are a very small provider, governing documents are also likely to include documents
such as schemes of delegation, terms of reference of committees to which significant functions
have been delegated, policies on matters such as management of conflicts of interest, support for
freedom of speech or academic freedom, and/or member/shareholder agreements where these
may influence your operation. You do not need to supply all of these documents, unless we
request them, but they should be described in your self-assessment.
80. The public interest governance principles are set out in Annex E.
81. By ‘management and governance arrangements’ we mean how your organisation implements
its governing documents in practice.
82. In assessing whether arrangements are ‘adequate’, we will seek to determine if the procedures in
place are designed appropriately, and in assessing whether the arrangements are ‘effective’, we
will consider whether these are operating properly.
83. By ‘self-assessment’ we mean your own evaluation of how your organisation meets the
conditions, how you have reached this conclusion, and the evidence you are using to make this
assessment.
84. You do not need to submit any supporting documents with your self-assessment, but should
make reference to the evidence you have used to reach your own judgement. If we have any
concerns that the conditions may not be satisfied, or if you want to apply for degree awarding
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powers after you have received your decision about registration, then we may ask to see
supporting documents.
85. Your self-assessment should include:
a. An assessment of how your governing documents uphold the public interest governance
principles that are relevant to you and the category of registration you are seeking.
b. A brief description of your management and governance arrangements and why you think
these are appropriate for the size and complexity of your organisation.
c. An assessment of the extent to which management and governance arrangements are
adequate and effective.
86. If you are a further education college or a sixth form college your self-assessment only needs to
address the management and governance arrangements for your higher education provision.
87. If you are a higher education institution currently regulated by HEFCE, we think that most of this
information will be set out in your statement of corporate governance in your published financial
statements.
88. If you use a particular governance code and this code is, in your judgement, consistent with the
public interest governance principles, your self-assessment could refer to how you ensure
compliance with this code.
89. A suggested template for your self-assessment is provided at:
Annex F if you are currently have courses designated by the Secretary of State
Annex G if you are currently a higher education institution funded by HEFCE
Annex H if you are a further education college or sixth form college.
90. If we have any concerns about the appropriateness, adequacy or effectiveness of your
management and governance arrangements we may carry out an onsite review to confirm that
you satisfy the initial conditions of registration. We may also carry out such a review if you are
also applying for degree awarding powers.
Additional requirements for providers applying to the Approved (fee cap) category
91. If you are applying for registration in the Approved (fee cap) category you will need to
demonstrate in your self-assessment that you will be able to meet two additional public interest
governance principles. This is to recognise that you will be receiving taxpayers’ money, and that
you are required to have structures and processes in place to ensure that there is appropriate
accountability to Parliament for these funds. The additional principles are in line with those set out
in HM Treasury’s ‘Managing public money’ and are designed to ensure sound and open decision-
making, regularity, propriety and value for money.
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Definitions
Regularity
By regularity we mean compliance with the relevant legislation (including State Aid) and funds are used
only for the purpose for which they are given, and in line with any conditions attached.
Propriety
By propriety we mean meeting high standards of public conduct, including the relevant parliamentary
expectations, especially transparency.
Value for money
By value for money we mean meeting the need for efficiency, economy, effectiveness and prudence in
the administration of public resources, to secure value for public money in relation to the public funding
received.
92. If you are applying to receive public grant funding for the first time then your self-assessment will
need to set out the arrangements that are already in place that meet these additional
requirements or the actions that you will need to take to introduce the necessary arrangements.
You must be able to demonstrate that you meet all requirements by 1 August 2019.
93. To meet these two additional public interest governance principles, you will need to point to
evidence in your self-assessment that:
a. You have, or will have, internal audit arrangements, including an audit committee, to provide
an annual opinion on the adequacy and effectiveness of arrangements:
i. To ensure that funds are used for purpose.
ii. For securing value for money.
b. Your audited financial statements include, or will include:
i. A ‘Statement of corporate governance’ that sets out your corporate governance
arrangements.
ii. A ‘Statement of internal control’ that sets out the adequacy and effectiveness of your
arrangement for internal control, including of your management and governance
arrangements.
c. You publish, or will publish, your audited financial statements.
d. If you are a charity, your trustees’ personal behaviour is in accordance with your ethical
framework and that this framework builds on the ‘Nolan Principles of Public Life’6.
6 See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-7-principles-of-public-life.
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e. If you are not a charity, you have a policy framework on ethics which has regard to those
‘Nolan Principles of Public Life’ that are relevant to a profit-making organisation.
94. For small providers, with low complexity, we recognise that an internal audit function and an audit
committee might not be appropriate. Once registered, this requirement could therefore be met by
a ‘Statement of corporate governance’ in your audited financial statements that sets out your
arrangements for control and risk management, and an opinion by your external auditors that you
use the funds for the purposes given.
95. An indication of what we would consider to be a small and low complexity provider is a provider
that is each of the following:
a. A single entity with simple control and ownership structures.
b. Having activity based only in England.
c. Delivering only higher education activity.
d. Of the following size:
< £3 million turnover
< 500 FTE students
< £1.5 million total net assets.
Are my owners and managers ‘fit and proper’ persons?
96. To satisfy the management and governance conditions you need to demonstrate that your
organisation is owned (where relevant) and managed by ‘fit and proper’ persons. The purpose of
the ‘fit and proper’ test is to ensure that the ownership and management arrangements for a
provider are appropriate and do not present a risk to students or to public funds.
97. To assess whether your organisation is owned and managed by ‘fit and proper’ persons, we will
ask you for information on the application form about key individuals including, where relevant:
a. Your nominated ‘accountable officer’.
b. The chair of your governing body.
c. Your main shareholders.
d. Your directors or trustees.
98. We will also ask you to confirm to us that every individual whose details you have passed to us
has consented in writing to our holding and processing their personal data for the purpose of our
regulation of you, and that you will provide us with a copy of that consent on request.
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Definitions
Accountable officer
The accountable officer must be a senior officer at the provider, who should normally be the head of
the provider, vice-chancellor, principal, chief executive, or equivalent. An accountable officer is the
officer who reports to the OfS, the designated data body and the designated quality body on behalf of
the provider and has the responsibilities set out by the OfS. If you are a further education college or
sixth form college this will be the person who acts as the ‘accounting officer’ for the ESFA.
Chair of governing body
This is the person responsible for leading the governing body, or equivalent, and who has ultimate
responsibility for strategic decision making and oversight of the provider.
The term ‘governing body’ has the meaning given in section 85 of HERA. Broadly, this will be any
board of governors of the provider or any person or group of people responsible for the management
of the provider/company, or an equivalent controlling body. This might be the board of directors, the
trustees of a charity, for example.
We recognise that for very small providers there might be a very small group of people responsible for
management and one individual may be both the chair and the accountable officer.
Main shareholders
Your main shareholders are defined as any individual or company shareholders with more than a 20
per cent holding either by value or by voting rights. For entities not limited by shares, the same
threshold of 20 per cent of ownership should be applied.
Directors
Your directors are the senior people involved in running the provider, or they could be non-executive
directors with responsibility for the oversight of the provider, whether or not they are called ‘directors’.
Trustees
Trustees has the meaning given by section 177 of the Charities Act 2011 – trustees are the people
who have the general control and management of the administration of a charity.
99. A fit and proper person:
a. Is of good character.
b. Has the qualifications, competence, skills and experience that are necessary for their role.
c. Is able by reason of their health, after reasonable adjustments are made, to properly perform
the tasks of the office or position for which they are appointed.
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d. Has not been responsible for, been privy to, contributed to, or facilitated, any serious
misconduct or mismanagement (whether unlawful or not) in their employment or in the conduct
of any entity with which they are or have been associated.
100. The following are indicators that a person may not be a fit and proper person:
a. Disqualification from acting as a company director, or from acting as a charity trustee, as set
out in the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 or the Charities Act 2011.
b. Conviction of a criminal offence anywhere in the world7.
c. Subject of any adverse finding in civil proceedings, where relevant, including but not limited to
bankruptcy or equivalent proceedings (in the last three years).
d. Subject of any adverse findings in any disciplinary proceedings by any regulatory authorities or
professional bodies.
e. Involvement in any abuse of the tax systems.
f. Involvement with any entity that has been refused registration to carry out a trade or has had
that registration terminated.
g. Involvement in a business that has gone into insolvency, liquidation or administration while the
person has been connected with that organisation or within one year of that connection.
h. Dismissal from a position of trust or similar.
i. Involvement with a higher education provider that has had its registration refused or revoked
by the OfS or has had similar action taken against it by another regulator (this includes, but is
not limited to, serving on a board/governing body, having voting rights, being a significant
shareholder/owner, serving in a senior position, etc.).
101. Where one of these indicators does apply to an owner or one of the positions listed in paragraph
97, you must disclose this to us and show evidence that you have investigated and considered
the appropriateness of the involvement of the individual or company.
102. We will determine whether the matter:
a. Is relevant to the individual’s role.
b. Has been appropriately addressed by you.
c. Affects your application.
103. As we assess whether your owners and managers are ‘fit and proper’ persons we will take into
account any evidence that was collected or produced by HEFCE, or by DfE, as well as the
7 Based on reasonable enquiries by the provider in which individuals are asked to disclose all relevant matters
that occurred in the UK and/or in a foreign jurisdiction. We would not expect individuals to disclose matters that
are ‘spent’ under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, but they may do so if they wish; particular
consideration will be given to offences of dishonesty, fraud, financial crime or an offence under legislation
relating to higher education, further education and charities, whether or not in the UK.
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information contained in your application. If you are part of a wider group structure we may
contact you separately to request further information about the owners and managers of any
parent companies and/or the ultimate controlling party.
Privy Council oversight of governing documents
104. If you will be subject to Privy Council oversight of some of your governing documents in the
academic year 2018-19 (this applies to all higher education institutions currently funded by
HEFCE and any provider governed by a Royal Charter), and need to make changes to ensure
that they uphold the public interest governance principles, we will be able to consider and agree
these changes in draft as part of the registration process. This approach will mean that you do not
need to seek Privy Council approval for minor changes during 2018-19.
105. Our definition of ‘governing documents’ extends beyond the documents that have previously been
governed by the Privy Council. This means you will not necessarily have to make changes to your
Royal Charter or statutes in order to meet condition E1.
106. If you do need to make changes you will need to submit a draft of the changes you want to make
to these governing documents with your application for registration and we will consider and
approve these on the condition that the agreed changes will be made to your governing
documents when Privy Council oversight ceases on 1 August 2019.
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Section 5: How do I complete an application form?
107. You will be able to access an application form from Tuesday 3 April 2018. Where we already hold
some of this information the application form will be prepopulated. We need you to confirm that
the information is correct or make amendments where this is necessary. It is important that this
information is accurate as it will appear on the OfS Register.
108. This application form will request or ask you to confirm the following information. The fields that
will be prepopulated are marked with an asterisk:
The provider’s name * The legal name and trading names of the provider you wish to register.
The category in which you are seeking registration
One of:
Approved (fee cap) (and indicating whether you will be
charging basic or higher fees or are a postgraduate-only
provider).
Approved (and indicating whether you are applying for Tier 4
sponsorship or Disabled Students’ Allowance purposes only).
Whether you are applying for degree awarding powers following a decision on registration
Whether you are applying for degree awarding powers following a decision on registration, the type of powers you wish to apply for and whether this is on a probationary or full authorisation basis
The provider’s unique identifier *
Your UKPRN allocated by the UK Register of Learning Providers.
The provider’s contact information
The address of your primary place of business. An email address appropriate for students and members of the public to be able to contact you with any general enquiries. A telephone number appropriate for students and members of the public to be able to contact you with any general enquiries.
The address of the provider’s website
The address of your primary website.
Information about the key individuals who own and/or manage the provider
The name, date of birth and role title of the key individuals who own and manage your provider:
Accountable officer.
Chair of governing body or equivalent.
Main shareholders.
Directors or trustees.
If you are part of a wider group structure we may need further information about the ownership and management of any parent companies.
Date that university title was awarded *
If you hold university or university college title we will ask for the date this award was made.
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How university title was granted *
If you hold university or university college title we will ask how it was awarded (Charter, or under an Act of Parliament).
Validation If you have degree awarding powers we will ask whether you validate the degrees at any other provider, and ask you to provide a list of any such arrangements in place at the date of your application. If you do not have your own degree awarding powers we will ask if any of the higher education you offer is validated by a degree awarding body.
Subcontractual arrangements* If you have entered into any formal subcontractual relationships (also known as ‘franchise’) with other higher education providers, we will ask you to provide a list of all arrangements in place at date of your application.
Degree awarding powers* If you hold degree awarding powers, we will ask you to confirm when this award was made and the type of degree awarding powers held. We will ask if the award is indefinite, or limited and if so, for what period.
The provider’s legal form* The provider’s legal form, for example whether it was created by Royal Charter, Act of Parliament, or as a company limited by shares or guarantee. Whether the provider is an exempt or registered charity.
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Section 6: How do I submit my application?
109. You will be able to apply to register through an online portal which will open on Tuesday 3 April
2018.
110. We will write to you by the end of March providing instructions about how to use the registration
portal, including login information and instructions about how to submit your application and
supporting evidence.
111. We wrote to you in February 2018 asking for an early indication of the category in which you are
likely to register. Based on the information you provided, we will send you a checklist of the
evidence that we already hold because it was collected or generated by HEFCE or by DfE. We
will also confirm the initial conditions of registration for which you will need to submit new
evidence. We will also provide electronic copies of the templates provided in the annexes of this
advice document.
112. We will also let you know about the requirements for other categories in case you have changed
your mind about your registration.
113. If you are applying in the Approved (fee cap) category and have a current access agreement
approved by the Director for Fair Access under the previous regulatory system, we will also
provide a prepopulated quantitative template drawing on existing milestone data relating to
access and participation. If you have not previously held an access agreement we will give you a
blank template. This will need to be submitted as part of your application for registration to satisfy
the initial condition of registration on access and participation.
114. As part of your application to register, you will need to complete an application form as set out in
Section 4 above. When you log into the registration portal, you will be able to access a partially
prepopulated application form which you will need to check and complete. You will also be able to
upload the completed templates and documents that you will submit as evidence with your
application.
115. We will confirm that we have received your application and tell you the next steps for assessing
your application and for reaching a decision.
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PART B: How will we assess your application to register?
116. When you have submitted your application to register we will:
1 Check that your application form is complete and that you have provided the evidence required for your application
See section 7: Have you submitted a complete application and are you eligible for registration?
2 Identify the ‘institution’ to be registered and confirm that it is eligible to register with the OfS
See Section 7: Have you submitted a complete application and are you eligible for registration?
3 Gather together the evidence required to assess your application
See Section 8: What are the evidence requirements for each provider?
4 Assess whether you satisfy the initial conditions of registration and complete a risk assessment
See Sections 8: What are the evidence requirements for each provider?
and Section 9: Do you satisfy the initial conditions of registration and what is the risk
that you will breach conditions in future?
5 Tell you the outcome of your application
See Section 10: What is the outcome of your application?
6 Tell you what you need to do to stay registered
See Section 11: What do you need to do to stay registered?
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Section 7: Have you submitted a complete application and are you eligible for registration?
117. Once we have received your application we will check that we have all the information we need to
complete an assessment. We will contact you as soon as possible after submission if we believe
any information is missing from your application.
118. We will draw on existing evidence collected by HEFCE or DfE, publicly available evidence (such
as that held by Companies House), and information provided in your application form to identify
the ‘institution’ to be registered and confirm your eligibility as an ‘English higher education
provider’. We may contact you for further information or clarification.
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Section 8: What are the evidence requirements for each provider?
119. We will gather together the evidence needed to assess whether you satisfy each of the initial
conditions of registration as set out in Annex B. This will include the evidence that you have
submitted with your application for the following conditions:
Access and participation condition A1 or A2
Guidance on consumer protection law condition C1
Student protection plan condition C3
Management and governance conditions E1 and E2.
120. We expect you to provide evidence rather than simply asserting that these conditions are
satisfied. All of the evidence that you provide must be accurate and up to date. If you provide
inaccurate or out of date information our decision may be delayed and we may take action,
including refusing registration or imposing additional specific conditions of registration.
121. In addition, we will use evidence previously collected or generated by HEFCE, or by DfE, to
decide whether you satisfy the following initial conditions of registration:
Quality and standards conditions B1-B5
Financial viability and sustainability condition D.
122. The evidence we will use for these conditions is set out below.
Quality and standards conditions B1-B5
Condition B1 The provider must deliver well designed courses that provide a high quality academic experience for all students and enable a student’s achievement to be reliably assessed.
Condition B2 The provider must provide all students, from admission through to completion, with the support that they need to succeed in and benefit from higher education.
Condition B3 The provider must deliver successful outcomes for all of its students, which are recognised and valued by employers and/or enable further study.
Condition B4 The provider must ensure that qualifications awarded to students hold their value at the point of qualification and over time, in line with sector recognised standards.
Condition B5 The provider must deliver courses that meet the academic standards as they are described in the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) at Level 4 or higher.
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123. You do not need to submit any additional evidence to demonstrate that you satisfy the quality and
standards conditions as we will use existing evidence and indicators constructed from data that
you have already submitted.
Providers that are currently directly funded by HEFCE
124. We will use the outcomes of the 2016-17 Annual Provider Review (APR) process, the outcomes
of any published Quality Review Visit (QRV), progress against any action plan, and any outcomes
of an Unsatisfactory Quality Scheme (UQS) investigation, to assess whether you satisfy
conditions B1, B2, B4 and B5.
125. To satisfy these conditions we would normally expect you to have an APR outcome of either
‘meets expectations’ or ‘meets expectations with an action plan’. Judgements from any QRV
should normally provide ‘confidence’. Where there is ‘limited confidence’ and an action plan is in
place we would expect to see that you are making satisfactory progress with this. We would also
expect no adverse UQS findings.
Providers that are designated for student support by the Secretary of State
126. We will use the outcomes of the most recent published Higher Education Review (Alternative
Providers) (HER (AP)), the outcomes of Quality Assurance Agency for higher Education (QAA)
annual monitoring, including satisfactory progress on any action plan, and outcomes of any QAA
concerns investigation, to assess whether you satisfy conditions B1, B2, B4 and B5.
127. To meet these conditions we would expect a HER (AP) outcome of ‘meets UK expectations’ in
relation to the maintenance of academic standards and the quality of student learning
opportunities. If you received a judgement of ‘requires improvement to meet UK expectations’ in
either of these areas we will consider the progress you have made on implementing your action
plan. We would also expect no adverse judgements from concerns investigations.
All providers
128. For condition B3 all providers will be assessed against the following indicators:
a. Student continuation and completion indicators.
b. Degree and other higher education outcomes, including differential outcomes for students with
different characteristics.
c. Graduate employment and, in particular, progression to professional jobs and postgraduate
study.
129. In all cases, the indicators will be defined separately for splits of mode (full time and part time)
and level of study (first degree, other undergraduate, postgraduate taught masters, PGCE, other
postgraduate taught and postgraduate research). The indicators will be constructed from existing
datasets and you will not be required to submit any new data. We will look at indicators relating to
the provider registering with us and, within these, indicators for subcontracted delivery partners.
130. We will consider your actual performance over time rather than your performance when
compared to a sector-adjusted benchmark. This is to ensure that a baseline level of performance
is used to determine whether you may be registered, rather than a view of your performance as
compared with other providers. We will take account of the context in which you operate, such as
the type of provision you offer, when making judgements about your performance.
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131. If it is not possible to construct indicators for you because we do not hold sufficient data, or where
we have concerns about the reliability of your data, we will monitor your performance as reliable
data becomes available to assess whether the condition is satisfied on an ongoing basis.
Financial viability and sustainability condition D
Condition D The provider must: i. Be financially viable.
ii. Be financially sustainable.
iii. Have the necessary financial resources to provide and fully deliver
the higher education courses as it has advertised and as it has
contracted to deliver them.
iv. Have the necessary financial resources to continue to comply with all
conditions of its registration.
132. You will not normally need to submit any additional evidence to demonstrate that you satisfy the
financial viability and sustainability condition as we will use existing evidence and indicators
constructed from this. You will, however, need to submit a new set of audited financial statements
and associated financial forecasts if these have become available since your last submission to
HEFCE. We will let you know if this applies to you.
Higher education institutions that were directly funded by HEFCE
133. We will use the audited financial statements submitted to HEFCE in December 2017 and the
financial forecasts and commentary submitted in July 2017 (or updated forecasts where these
were requested) to assess this condition.
Further education colleges and sixth form colleges that were funded by HEFCE
134. We will seek information from your principal regulator, the ESFA, to assess this condition. This
will include any published notice of concern and the financial health rating for the last three years.
To meet this condition we would normally expect you to have a financial health rating of at least
‘satisfactory’. If your most recent financial health rating is ‘inadequate’ we will ask for more
information from the ESFA before making a decision.
Providers that are designated for student support by the Secretary of State
135. We will use the audited financial statements, financial forecasts, commentary and any additional
evidence that you submitted to HEFCE in your annual return as part of the annual re-designation
process for 2018-19. If you applied for and received course designation for 2018-19 after
September 2017 we will use the evidence that you submitted as part of that application.
136. If a new set of audited financial statements has become available since your last submission to
HEFCE, you will need to submit this on the basis set out in the Financial Reporting Standard 102
(FRS102). If we need this information we will tell you.
137. Audited financial statements must include:
a. A ‘Statement of financial position’ (balance sheet).
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b. Either a single ‘Statement of comprehensive income’ incorporating profit or loss for the period
and items of other comprehensive income; or a ‘Statement of income and retained earnings’.
c. A ‘Statement of changes in equity’.
d. A ‘Statement of cash flows’.
e. Notes to the financial statements.
138. The auditor must be:
a. Independent of the provider.
b. Independent of the preparer of the accounts and the financial statements.
c. Listed on the Register of Statutory Auditors8.
139. If your financial performance and position has changed significantly from that set out in your most
recent forecasts, you will also need to submit updated financial forecasts and a supporting
financial commentary that explains these changes. We will provide a template for these forecasts
and separate guidance about how to complete the template.
8 See www.auditregister.org.uk/Forms/Default.aspx.
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Section 9: Do you satisfy the initial conditions of registration and what is the risk that you will breach conditions in future?
Assessment against the initial conditions of registration
140. We will carry out a detailed assessment of your application for registration using the evidence that
you have submitted with your application and the evidence previously collected or generated by
HEFCE, or by DfE. During the assessment process we may have further questions that we need
you to answer. This means that you must be prepared to engage with us and to provide any other
information that we request.
141. If the Director for Fair Access and Participation is considering your access and participation plan,
there will be a period of discussion and challenge and you will have the opportunity to make
amendments or provide further evidence if necessary.
Risk assessment
142. As we assess your application we will also conduct a risk assessment to determine the extent of
the risk that you will breach one or more of your general ongoing conditions of registration once
you are registered.
143. Where our assessment suggests that you may not be able to satisfy the initial conditions of
registration, or where we consider there to be an increased risk of a breach of an ongoing
condition of registration, will may seek additional information.
144. We will assess your SPP in the context of this risk assessment and in the context of your own
assessment of risks to the continuation of study for your students. If we do not think the
provisions of your plan are sufficient for the level of risk we think exists to students’ continuation
of study, we may require additional mitigation in your SPP before this can be approved.
General and specific ongoing conditions of registration
145. Where we decide that you satisfy the initial conditions of registration, we will determine:
a. Which general ongoing conditions of registration will apply to you.
b. Whether any specific ongoing conditions of registration will apply to you to mitigate any areas
of increased risk identified by our risk assessment.
c. Whether enhanced monitoring is required as a result of our risk assessment.
146. If you deliver higher education through a subcontractual arrangement, we will use evidence from
your lead provider(s) to assess whether you satisfy some of the ongoing conditions of registration.
147. If you are only applying to register so that your eligible students can access the Disabled
Students’ Allowance some of the ongoing conditions of registration will not by applied to you. We
will contact you with more information about this.
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Section 10: What is the outcome of your application?
If your application is successful
148. If we approve your application for registration we will write to you to confirm:
a. The date of your registration and the date on which we will publish your details on the Register.
b. That you satisfy the initial conditions of registration.
c. The general ongoing conditions of registration that will apply to you.
d. Whether we will impose any specific conditions of registration.
e. Whether we will put in place any enhanced monitoring.
If your application is unsuccessful
149. If we intend to refuse your application for registration, we will notify your governing body of our
intention to refuse registration setting out:
a. The reasons for our refusal.
b. The method for you to make representations about our intention.
c. That you have 28 days from the date of our notification that we intend to refuse your
application to make such representations.
150. We will consider any representations you wish to make before making our final decision.
Our decision following representations
151. If your representations are successful we will write to you to confirm:
a. The date of your registration and the date on which we will publish your details on the Register.
b. That you satisfy the initial conditions of registration.
c. The general ongoing conditions of registration that will apply to you.
d. Whether we will impose any specific conditions of registration.
e. Whether we will put in place any enhanced monitoring.
152. If our decision is to refuse your application for registration, we will write to you to set out the
grounds for our refusal.
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Section 11: What do you need to do to stay registered?
153. When you are successfully registered, you will need to continue to satisfy our regulatory
requirements. When we write to you with our decision we will explain what you need to do to stay
registered.
154. Our requirements and approach to regulation during the transition period up to 31 July 2019 are
set out in:
OfS regulatory notice 2: Regulation up to 31 July 2019 of providers that were previously
funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England
OfS regulatory notice 3: Regulation up to 31 July 2019 of providers currently designated for
student support by the Secretary of State
OfS regulatory notice 4: Regulation of newly registered providers up to 31 July 2019.
155. The OfS regulatory framework will be fully implemented from 1 August 2019 and its requirements
and approach are set out in OfS 2018.01.
Registration fees
156. There is no fee payable for the initial registration process. You will be required to pay an annual
registration fee from 1 August 2019 and separate guidance on fees will be published.
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PART C: Annexes
Annex A: Am I eligible for registration?
1. You can only register with the Office for Students (OfS) if you are, or intend to become, an
English higher education provider. We will consider three elements to determine whether an entity
is an English higher education provider:
a. It provides ‘higher education’.
b. Its activities are ‘principally carried on in England’.
c. It is an ‘institution’.
2. More information about each of these elements is provided below.
What is ‘higher education’?
3. ‘Higher education’ is defined in the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 as a course of any
description listed in Schedule 6 (as amended) to the Education Reform Act 19889.
What does it mean to have activities that are ‘principally carried on in England’?
4. An English higher education provider is a provider whose activities are carried on, or principally
carried on, in England. We interpret ‘principally carried on in England’ as meaning that more than
50 per cent of your activities are carried on in England. In assessing where your activities are
carried on, we will take ‘activities’ to mean the activities that support the provision of higher
education – including the delivery of teaching, designing of courses – rather than the learning.
This means that it is the location of the provision, rather than the location of students, that will
usually be the defining factor. For distance learning provision that is not delivered live, the
location from which the provision is designed, managed and/or assessed will be the relevant
location.
What is an ‘institution’?
5. A provider can only be registered if it is an institution providing higher education. To determine
whether an entity is an institution for these purposes, we will consider the following principles:
a. An institution is usually, but not necessarily, a distinct legal entity. This is therefore not a
conclusive characteristic of an institution.
b. An institution can consist of various component parts which together make up a single
institution, even where each of the component parts could, or does, form a distinct legal entity.
6. An institution must be able to demonstrate that it can satisfy the initial and ongoing conditions of
registration in its own right. Normally, this means that an institution will have all of the following
characteristics, which will persist over time:
9 See www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/40/schedule/6.
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its own name and brand identity, which makes it clearly distinguishable from other institutions
or entities, to provide transparency for both students and the general public
a clearly distinguishable student body for whose teaching the institution is responsible
its own distinct governance structure, governing body and governing documents
it will not be under the control of another entity which is itself registered with the OfS or which
has applied to be so registered
its own separate, distinguishable finances that allow for the identification of the institution’s
income and expenditure, balance sheet and cashflow
it will have all these characteristics for legitimate business reasons, a primary or dominant
purpose of which is not to enable the entity to be separately registered with the OfS.
7. If a provider cannot demonstrate that it has all of these characteristics it is unlikely to meet the
eligibility criteria for registration. If a provider satisfies the majority, but not all, of the
characteristics, then the principles the OfS will consider to determine whether an exception
should be made, so that the provider is eligible, include but are not limited to:
whether separate registration of the provider would provide greater transparency and benefit
for students
if the institution has historically existed, and for how long
whether it appears that the institution is being established with a purpose of avoiding
regulation, or elements of it
how far registration of the provider would allow for regulatory alignment with other government
departments or agencies.
8. An entity (Entity A) will be under the control of another entity (Entity B) if any of the following
applies:
Entity B holds or is entitled to acquire a majority of the shares in Entity A
Entity B holds or is entitled to acquire a majority of the voting rights in Entity A
Entity B has or is entitled to acquire the right to appoint or remove a majority of the governing
body of Entity A
Entity B has or is entitled to acquire the right to exercise dominant influence over Entity A by
virtue of provisions contained in either entity’s constitution or in a contract, memorandum of
understanding or other document regulating the entity; such provisions may include, but are
not limited to, the right to approve Entity A’s business or financial plan or budget
Entity B has or is entitled to acquire the right to a share of more than half the assets in the
event of a winding up or in any other circumstances, or of more than half the income or profits,
of Entity A
Entity A is operated for the primary benefit of Entity B
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both entities are in common or overlapping ownership or managed on a uniform basis or have
a significant number of governors (or the equivalent) in common
Entity B has or is entitled to acquire the power, by any other means, to secure that the affairs
of Entity A are conducted in accordance with the wishes of Entity B.
9. Where an entity is under the control of another entity we expect that:
there will be transparency about the ownership, governance and financial viability and
sustainability of the controlling entity to the extent that we will be able to gain the same
assurance from the controlling entity as it could from any English entity subject to UK laws.
10. Where there is a complex legal form, for example involving overseas control, we may seek
specialist advice including corporate intelligence and due diligence work from independent
experts about these issues and may charge a fee to you for this work. If the fee is not paid we
may decline to consider your application further. We may apply a specific ongoing condition of
registration if it is not satisfied that the same level of transparency and assurance over the
controlling entity can be achieved as would be the case for any other entity subject to English law.
How will you decide if I meet the definition of an ‘English higher education provider’?
11. We will use information you provide in your application and information previously collected or
generated by HEFCE, or by the DfE, to decide whether you are eligible to register. If we do not
think that you meet the definition of an ‘English higher education provider’ we will contact you
separately.
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Annex B: Initial conditions of registration
Initial conditions of registration
Does a provider need to provide
new evidence?
What evidence will the OfS use to assess this condition?
Access and participation conditions
Condition A1
An Approved (fee cap) provider intending to charge fees above the basic amount to qualifying persons on qualifying courses must:
i. Have in force an access and participation
plan approved by the Office for Students
(OfS) in accordance with the Higher
Education and Research Act 2017.
ii. Take all reasonable steps to comply with
the provisions of the plan.
Yes You will need to produce and submit an access and participation plan.
Condition A2
An Approved provider or an Approved (fee cap) provider charging fees up to the basic amount to qualifying persons on qualifying courses must:
i. Publish an access and participation
statement.
ii. Update and re-publish this statement on
an annual basis.
Yes You will need to produce and submit an access and participation statement.
Quality and standards conditions
Condition B1
The provider must deliver well-designed courses that provide a high quality academic experience for all students and enable a student’s achievement to be reliably assessed.
No
Providers funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) We will use the outcomes of the 2016-17 Annual Provider Review process, outcomes of any Quality Review Visit, progress against any action plan, and any outcomes of an Unsatisfactory Quality Scheme investigation, to assess whether you satisfy conditions B1, B2, B4 and B5 Providers designated for student support We will use the outcomes of the most recent published Higher Education Review (Alternative Providers), the outcomes of
Condition B2
The provider must provide all students, from admission through to completion, with the support that they need to succeed in and benefit from higher education.
Condition B3
The provider must deliver successful outcomes for all of its students, which are recognised and valued by employers, and/or enable further study.
Condition B4
The provider must ensure that qualifications awarded to students hold their value at the point of qualification and over time, in line with sector recognised standards.
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Condition B5
The provider must deliver courses that meet the academic standards as they are described in the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications at Level 4 or higher.
Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) annual monitoring (including progress on any action plan), and any outcomes of any QAA concerns investigation, to assess whether you satisfy conditions B1, B2, B4 and B5 All providers For condition B3 all providers will be assessed against the following indicators constructed from existing data submitted to the Higher Education Statistics Agency:
student continuation and
completion indicators
degree and other higher
education outcomes,
including differential
outcomes for students
with different
characteristics
graduate employment
and, in particular,
progression to
professional jobs and
postgraduate study.
Guidance on consumer protection law condition
Condition C1
The provider must demonstrate that in developing and implementing its policies, procedures and terms and conditions it has given due regard to relevant guidance about how to comply with consumer protection law.
Yes You will need to produce and submit a self-assessment of how you have given due regard to relevant guidance about how to comply with consumer protection law.
Student protection plan condition
Condition C3
The provider must: i. Have in force and publish a student
protection plan which has been approved
by the OfS as appropriate for its
assessment of the regulatory risk
presented by the provider and for the risk
to continuation of study of all of its
students.
ii. Take all reasonable steps to implement
the provisions of the plan if the events
set out in the plan take place.
iii. Inform the OfS of events, except for the
closure of an individual course, that
Yes You will need to produce and submit a student protection plan.
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require the implementation of the
provisions of the plan.
Financial viability and sustainability condition
Condition D
The provider must: i. Be financially viable.
ii. Be financially sustainable.
iii. Have the necessary financial resources
to provide and fully deliver the higher
education courses as it has advertised
and as it has contracted to deliver them.
iv. Have the necessary financial resources
to continue to comply with all conditions
of its registration.
No Higher education institutions currently funded by HEFCE: We will use the audited financial statements submitted to HEFCE in December 2017 and the financial forecasts and commentary submitted in July 2017 to assess this condition. Further education colleges and sixth corm colleges: We will seek information from the Education and Skills Funding Agency to assess this condition. Providers currently designated for student support: We will use the audited financial statements, financial forecasts, commentary and any other relevant information submitted to HEFCE in September 2017 as part of the annual designation process.
Management and governance conditions
Condition E1
The provider’s governing documents must uphold the public interest governance principles that are applicable to the provider.
Yes
You will need to produce and submit a self-assessment of:
how your governing
documents uphold the
public interest governance
principles
the appropriateness,
adequacy and
effectiveness of your
management and
governance
arrangements.
Further education colleges and sixth form colleges: Your self-assessment only needs to cover the management and governance arrangements for your higher education provision.
Condition E2
The provider must have in place adequate and effective management and governance arrangements to:
i. Operate in accordance with its governing
documents.
ii. Deliver, in practice, the public interest
governance principles that are applicable
to it.
iii. Provide and fully deliver the higher
education courses advertised.
iv. Continue to comply with all conditions of
its registration.
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Annex C: Template for producing a self-assessment on guidance on
consumer protection law
Provider’s name: Provider’s UKPRN:
Your overall approach to ensuring compliance with consumer protection law
Explain here your approach to complying with consumer protection law and the mechanisms you use to monitor and ensure compliance with consumer protection law. Below are some headings and examples which might be useful, but this is not, and is not intended to be, exhaustive or prescriptive. For example: ‘We are compliant/partially compliant/not yet compliant with consumer protection law.’ ‘We think this because…’ ‘The evidence that demonstrates this is…’ ‘We have a member of staff who is responsible for consumer protection law issues’ ‘We take legal advice when developing new contracts and when we change terms and conditions’ ‘Consumer protection law issues are discussed at…’ ‘There is an annual review…’ ‘To ensure that we will be fully compliant, we will… and we will have done this by…’ In this section, you might want to refer to the following as evidence that supports the view you have formed in your self-assessment. There is no need to submit any of this additional evidence but we may ask to see it if we have concerns that you do not satisfy the condition:
information on organisational and staffing arrangements, for example, whether there is a
department and/or designated staff member responsible for consumer law issues
information on working groups or committees established to tackle issues relating to consumer
law such as information management and provision, complaints handling and the setting of
terms and conditions and/or contracts
information about staff training on your consumer law obligations
details of reviews (planned or actual) into information management and provision, complaint
handling and the setting of terms and conditions and/or contracts
evidence that professional legal advice has been sought
use of model contracts, terms and conditions
policies relating to sources of information for staff and students, with examples of how this is
provided
policies and procedures relating to consumer law obligations, such as information management
and provision, complaints handling and setting terms and conditions and/or contracts.
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1. Your approach to providing information to applicants and students: research and application stage,
offer stage and enrolment stage
Explain here how you ensure that applicants and students are provided with accurate information about their course, fees and other relevant costs and about your institution, and that such information is accurate, clear, timely and accessible. For example: ‘We publish a prospectus containing information on x, y, z’ ‘We also provide the following information…’ ‘We ensure this is accurate and clear by…’ ‘We know when information is not accurate or clear because… and we take these steps to improve it.’ In this section, evidence you might want to refer to includes:
links to web-site or other prospectus course descriptions
information about the structure of the courses you offer and the relevant fees/costs;
letters supporting offers to applicants
details of reviews (planned or actual) into information management and provision
policies relating to sources of information for staff and students, with examples of how this is
provided
policies and procedures relating to consumer law obligations, such as information management
and provision.
Your contract terms and conditions
Explain here the contracts you use to govern relationships with students and how you ensure that these are fair and have transparent terms and conditions. For example: ‘We have the following contracts…’ ‘Our terms and conditions, including rules and regulations, are made available to students through a, b, c and our website and intranet [link]’ ‘We ensure that terms and conditions and regulations are clear and understandable to students by…’ ‘We take the following actions/steps to ensure the terms are fair…’ ‘We use model contracts for the following services…’
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Your complaint handling processes and practices
Explain here how you ensure that ensure that complaint handling practices are clear, accessible and fair. For example: ‘We have a complaints process which students are made aware of through the following mechanisms a, b, c and is available on our website and intranet [link].’ ‘Where students are studying at a partner organisation we…’ ‘The Office of the Independent Adjudicator’s good practice framework is used to…’ ‘We have the following evidence that our complaints process is clear, accessible and fair…’ ‘We ensure that staff know and are competent at following the process because…’
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Annex D: Template for a student protection plan
Provider’s name: Provider’s UKPRN: Legal address: Contact point for enquiries about this student protection plan:
Student protection plan for the period [insert academic year]
1. An assessment of the range of risks to the continuation of study for your students, how those risks may differ based on your students’ needs, characteristics and circumstances, and the likelihood that those risks will crystallise
Please provide an evidenced statement of your assessment of the range and level of risks to the continuation of study for your students. For example:
‘The risk that the provider as a whole is unable to operate is very low because our financial performance is x, y and z and we have business continuity plans to deal with a, b and c.’ ‘The risk that we will no longer deliver courses at our Eastwood campus in the next three years is significant because we are considering the closure of this site. This poses a particular risk to students with caring responsibilities, as the Eastwood campus is our only one which has an on-site crèche.’ ‘The risk that we are no longer able to deliver programmes in highly specialised areas in the next three years is moderate because x, y and z. These programmes have a high proportion of students in receipt of bursaries.’ ‘The risk that we are no longer able to deliver material components of our courses is low because we design our modules to be taught by integrated teams of academic staff. For our postgraduate courses in Modern Nordic this risk is moderate because we are dependent on particular members of academic staff to deliver core teaching.’
2. The measures that you have put in place to mitigate those risks that you consider to be reasonably likely to crystallise
Please provide an evidenced statement of the measures you have put in place to preserve continuation of study for your students in those areas where you consider the risk to be increased. For example:
‘If we are unable to deliver courses at our Eastwood campus in the next three years we will put in place x, y and z.’ ‘If we are unable to deliver courses in specialised programmes in the next three years we will put in place x, y and z.’ ‘If we are no longer able to deliver material components of our postgraduate courses in Modern Nordic we will put in place x, y and z.’
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3. Information about the policy you have in place to refund tuition fees and other relevant costs to your students and to provide compensation where necessary in the event that you are no longer able to preserve continuation of study
Please link to or provide a copy of your refund and compensation policy and ensure that it makes provision for:
refunds for students in receipt of tuitions fee loan from the Student Loans Company.
refunds for students who pay their own tuition fees.
refunds for students whose tuition fees are paid by a sponsor.
the payment of additional travel costs for students affected by a change in the location of their
course.
commitments to honour student bursaries.
compensation for maintenance costs and lost time where it is not possible to preserve
continuation of study.
compensation for tuition and maintenance costs where students have to transfer courses or
provider.
Please provide an evidenced statement of how you will ensure that you can deliver the financial implications of your refund and compensation policy. For example:
‘We have cash reserves of x which would be sufficient to provide refunds and compensation for those y students for whom we have identified an increased risk of non-continuation of study.’ ‘We will put in place insurance arrangements of x to provide refunds and compensation for those y students for whom we have identified an increased risk of non-continuation of study. We will ensure that this is in place by 1 August 2019.’
4. Information about how you will communicate with students about your student protection plan
Please provide a statement about how you will communicate the provisions in your student protection plan to current and future students. For example:
‘We will publicise our student protection plan to current and future students by…’ ‘We will ensure that staff are aware of the implications of our student protection plan when they propose course changes by…’
Please provide a statement about how you will work with your current students in the development of your student protection plan. For example:
‘We will review our student protection plan by…’ ‘Our students will be involved in our review by…’
Please provide a statement about the arrangements you will put in place to communicate with affected students should your student protection plan need to be implemented. For example:
‘We will inform our students if there are to be material changes to their course by…’ ‘We will give students x days’ notice when we need to make material changes to their course…’
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‘If we need to implement the measures in our student protection plan we will do x, y and z to support students collectively and individually.’ ‘We will put in place a, b and c arrangements to ensure that our students have access to independent advice if we need to implement the measures in our student protection plan.’
Annex E: Public interest governance principles
I. Academic freedom: Academic staff at an English higher education provider have freedom
within the law:
to question and test received wisdom; and
to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions;
without placing themselves in jeopardy of losing their jobs or privileges they may have at the
provider.
II. Accountability: The provider operates openly, honestly, accountably and with integrity and
demonstrates the values appropriate to be recognised as an English higher education provider.
III. Student engagement: The governing body ensures that all students have opportunities to
engage with the governance of the provider, and that this allows for a range of perspectives to
have influence.
IV. Academic governance: The governing body receives and tests assurance that academic
governance is adequate and effective through explicit protocols with the senate/academic
board (or equivalent).
V. Risk management: The provider operates comprehensive corporate risk management and
control arrangements (including for academic risk) to ensure the sustainability of the provider’s
operations, and its ability to continue to comply with all of its conditions of registration.
VI. Value for money The governing body ensures that there are adequate and effective
arrangements in place to provide transparency about value for money for students and (where
a provider has access to the student support system or to grant funding) for taxpayers.
VII. Freedom of speech: The governing body takes such steps as are reasonably practicable to
ensure that freedom of speech within the law is secured within the provider.
VIII. Governing body: The size, composition, diversity, skills mix, and terms of office of the
governing body is appropriate for the nature, scale and complexity of the provider.
IX. Fit and proper: Members of the governing body, those with senior management
responsibilities, and individuals exercising control or significant influence over the provider, are
fit and proper persons.
For the purposes of principle IX, indicators that a person may not be a ‘fit and proper’ person are provided in paragraph 100. Additional public interest principle for DAPs holders:
X. Records: Where degree awarding powers (DAPs) are solely contained in the provider’s
governing documents, and no order either under section 76 of the Further and Higher Education
Act 1992, or under the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 exists, the provisions setting
out those powers must be retained and may not be altered without the consent of the Office for
Students10.
Additional public interest principles for Approved (fee cap) providers in receipt of financial support from the Office for Students or from UK Research and Innovation: XI. Independent members of the governing body: There must be at least one external member
of the governing body who is independent of the provider, and whose term of office is normally
limited to a maximum of three terms of three years or two terms of four years. For providers
with large governing bodies, or more complex legal forms, additional independent members
may be appropriate.
XII. Regularity, propriety and value for money: The governing body ensures that there are
adequate and effective arrangements in place to ensure public funds are managed
appropriately, in line with the conditions of grant and the principles of regularity, propriety and
value for money, and to protect the interests of taxpayers and other stakeholders. This also
applies to any funds passed to another entity for the provision of facilities or learning and
teaching, or for research to be undertaken.
Definitions of regularity, propriety and value for money are provided in the box on page 20.
10 This principle ensures that appropriate records are kept regarding degree awarding powers, where no order
exists. This is primarily applicable to providers that obtained their powers before 1992, and/or that are
incorporated via Royal Charter or a Private Act.
Annex F: Template for producing a self-assessment on management and
governance: providers designated for student support by the Secretary of
State
Provider’s name: Provider’s UKPRN:
Your management and governance arrangements
Briefly describe here your management and governance arrangements and how these are appropriate for your size and complexity as an English higher education provider. This should include a description of your legal form and governance structure and how you oversee partnership arrangements where you are the lead provider. In this section, you should describe the following:
details of control (including geographical location of control) and ownership of your
organisation
details of any group structure
geographical spread of locations you operate at, including whether any of these are overseas
size of your organisation in terms of numbers of staff, students, turnover, total net assets
number and type of partnerships.
For example: ‘We are a medium sized provider with £xx turnover, xx students, xx staff. We are incorporated in England and are a wholly owned subsidiary of [name] a company also incorporated and based in England. ‘We have three subsidiary companies a, b, c, all based in England. ‘Our group structure looks like this [structure chart]. ‘We have the following governing documents … ‘These set out that… ‘The body with ultimate decision making powers is… ‘It delegates responsibility for a, b, c to x, y, z ‘These arrangements are appropriate for the size and complexity of our organisation because…’ In this section, you might want to make reference to the following:
governing documents
committee structures
delegation arrangements
validation and franchise agreements where you are the lead provider
governance arrangements for any satellite/overseas campuses.
You do not need to submit any of these additional documents with your self-assessment but we may
ask to see these if we are not satisfied that you meet the condition, or if you are also applying for
degree awarding powers.
Self-assessment of your management and governance arrangements
Explain here how your management and governance arrangements are adequate and effective. An arrangement is ‘adequate’ if it is capable of delivering a stated or implied objective and ‘effective’ if it is delivering its stated or implied objective. If you follow a code of governance you can also use this as evidence by describing:
the name, date and version of any governance code you follow
how long you have used the code, how you monitor use of the code in your governance
arrangements and how you review the effectiveness of arrangements
outcomes of the most recent effectiveness review of your governing body and any of its
committees (where appropriate).
For example: ‘We follow the [name of code] published [date]’ ‘We have used this code for x years and conduct a review of compliance every [review period]. ‘Reviews are conducted by y and the results implemented by z.’ ‘This code is appropriate because…’ ‘We do not meet the following elements of the code… because… but have the following alternative arrangements which we believe are appropriate because…’ ‘The most recent review showed…’ Or: ‘We don’t use a code of governance because… ‘We believe our management and governance arrangements are adequate because… ‘We believe they are effective because…’ You do not need to submit any additional documents with your self-assessment but we may ask to see further evidence if we have any concerns that you do not satisfy the condition or if you are also applying for degree awarding powers.
Public interest governance principles
Explain here how your governing documents uphold the public interest governance principles
relevant to your application (see list of principles below). Where your chosen code of governance
does not meet all of the relevant public interest governance principles you will need to demonstrate
how you meet the remaining principles.
Standard public interest governance principles: applicable to all providers
Academic freedom: Academic staff at an English higher education provider have freedom within the law:
to question and test received
wisdom; and
to put forward new ideas and
controversial or unpopular opinions;
without placing themselves in jeopardy of losing their jobs or privileges they may have at the provider.
For example: ‘This is covered by our compliance with our chosen governance code which sets out…’ Or: ‘Academic freedom is set out in xx document which states…’ Or: ‘Academic freedom is not yet covered in our governing documents. To amend this we will… by [date].’
Accountability: The provider operates openly, honestly, accountably and with integrity and demonstrates the values appropriate to be recognised as an English higher education provider.
For example: ‘This is covered by our compliance with our chosen governance code which sets out…’ Or: ‘Accountability is set out in xx document which states…’ Or: ‘Accountability is not yet covered in our governing documents. To address this we will… by [date].’
Student engagement: The governing body ensures that all students have opportunities to engage with the governance of the provider, and that this allows for a range of perspectives to have influence.
Academic governance: The governing body receives and tests assurance that academic governance is adequate and effective through explicit protocols with the senate/academic board (or equivalent).
Risk management: The provider operates comprehensive corporate risk management and control arrangements (including for academic risk) to ensure the sustainability of the provider’s operations, and its ability to continue to comply with all of its conditions of registration.
Value for money: The governing body ensures that there are adequate and effective arrangements in place to provide transparency about value for money for students and (where a provider has access to the student support system or to grant funding) for taxpayers.
Freedom of speech: The governing body takes such steps as are reasonably practicable to ensure that freedom of speech within the law is secured within the provider.
Governing body: The size, composition, diversity, skills mix, and terms of office of the governing body is appropriate for the nature, scale and complexity of the provider.
Fit and proper: Members of the governing body, those with senior management responsibilities, and individuals exercising control or significant influence over the provider, are fit and proper persons.
Additional public interest governance principle: providers authorised with degree awarding powers
Records: Where degree awarding powers are solely contained in the provider’s governing documents, and no order either under section 76 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, or under the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 exists, the provisions setting out those powers must be retained and may not be altered without the consent of the Office for Students.
Additional public interest governance principles: providers in receipt of financial support
Independent members of the governing body: There must be at least one external member of the governing body who is independent of the provider, and whose term of office is normally limited to a maximum of three terms of three years or two terms of four years. For providers with large governing bodies, or more complex legal forms, additional independent members may be appropriate.
Regularity, propriety and value for money: The governing body ensures
that there are adequate and effective arrangements in place to ensure public funds are managed appropriately, in line with the conditions of grant and the principles of regularity, propriety and value for money, and to protect the interests of taxpayers and other stakeholders. This also applies to any funds passed to another entity for the provision of facilities or learning and teaching, or for research to be undertaken.
Annex G: Template for producing a self-assessment on management and
governance: higher education institutions funded by HEFCE
Provider’s name:
Provider’s UKPRN:
Your management and governance arrangements
Briefly describe here your management and governance arrangements and how these are appropriate for your size and complexity as an English higher education provider. If this description is set out in a Statement of Corporate Governance in your audited financial statements and you think this provides an appropriate description, please refer to this. For example: ‘This information is set out in a Statement of Corporate Governance in our published financial statements.’
Appropriateness, adequacy and effectiveness of your management and governance
arrangements
Please provide an evidenced statement about how your management and governance arrangements are appropriate for your size and complexity as an English higher education provider. Provide an evidenced assessment of how your management and governance arrangements are adequate and effective. An arrangement is ‘adequate’ if it is capable of delivering a stated or implied objective and ‘effective’ if it is delivering its stated or implied objective. If this assessment is set out in a Statement of Corporate Governance in your audited financial statements and you think this provides an appropriate description, please refer to this. If you follow a code of governance you can also use this as evidence by describing:
the name, date and version of any governance code you follow
how long you have used the code, how you monitor use of the code in your governance
arrangements and how you review the effectiveness of arrangements
outcomes of the most effectiveness review of the governing body and any of its committees.
For example: ‘This information is set out in a Statement of Corporate Governance in our published financial statements.’ Or: ‘We use the HE code of governance published by the CUC which identifies the key values and practices on which the effective governance of UK HEIs is based.’ ‘We have used this code for x years and conduct a review of compliance every [review period].’ ‘Reviews are conducted by y and the results implemented by z.’
‘We do not meet the following elements of the code…because...but have the following alternative arrangements which we believe are appropriate because….’ ‘The most recent review showed…’ You do not need to submit any additional documents with your self-assessment but we may ask to see further evidence if we have any concerns that you do not satisfy the condition or if you are also applying for degree awarding powers.
Public interest governance principles
Explain here how your governing documents uphold the public interest governance principles relevant to your application (see list of principles below). Where your chosen code of governance does not meet all of the relevant public interest governance principles you will need to demonstrate how you meet the remaining principles.
Standard public interest governance principles: applicable to all providers
Academic freedom: Academic staff at an English higher education provider have freedom within the law: (a) to question and test received wisdom; and (b) to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions; without placing themselves in jeopardy of losing their jobs or privileges they may have at the provider.
For example: ‘This is covered by our compliance with our chosen governance code which sets out…’ Or ‘Academic freedom is set out in xx document which states…’ Or
‘Academic freedom is not yet covered in our
governing documents. To amend this we will…
by [date]’
Accountability: The provider operates openly, honestly, accountably and with integrity and demonstrates the values appropriate to be recognised as an English higher education provider.
For example: ‘This is covered by our compliance with our chosen governance code which sets out…’ Or ‘Accountability is set out in xx document which states…’ Or ‘Accountability is not yet covered in our governing documents. To address this we will… by [date]’
Student engagement: The governing body ensures that all students have opportunities to engage with the governance of the provider, and that this allows for a range of perspectives to have influence.
Academic governance: The governing body receives and tests assurance that academic governance is adequate and effective through
explicit protocols with the Senate/Academic Board (or equivalent).
Risk management: The provider operates comprehensive corporate risk management and control arrangements (including for academic risk) to ensure the sustainability of the provider’s operations, and its ability to continue to comply with all of its conditions of registration.
Value for money: The governing body ensures that there are adequate and effective arrangements in place to provide transparency about value for money for students and (where a provider has access to the student support system or to grant funding) for taxpayers.
Freedom of speech: The governing body takes such steps as are reasonably practicable to ensure that freedom of speech within the law is secured within the provider.
Governing body: The size, composition, diversity, skills mix, and terms of office of the governing body is appropriate for the nature, scale and complexity of the provider.
Fit and proper: Members of the Governing Body, those with senior management responsibilities, and individuals exercising control or significant influence over the provider, are fit and proper persons.
Additional public interest governance principle: providers authorised with degree awarding powers
Records: Where degree awarding powers are solely contained in the provider’s governing documents, and no order either under section 76 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, or under HERA exists, the provisions setting out those powers must be retained and may not be altered without the consent of the OfS
Additional public interest governance principles: providers in receipt of financial support
Independent members of the governing body: There must be at least one external member of the governing body who is independent of the provider, and whose term of office is normally limited to a maximum of three terms of three years or two terms of four years. For providers with large governing bodies, or more complex legal forms, additional independent members may be appropriate.
Regularity, propriety and value for money: The governing body ensures that there are adequate and effective arrangements in place to ensure public funds are managed appropriately, in line with the conditions of grant and the principles of regularity, propriety and value for money, and to protect the interests of taxpayers and other stakeholders. This also applies to any funds passed to another entity for the provision of facilities or learning and teaching, or for research to be undertaken.
Annex H: Template for producing a self-assessment on management and
governance: further education colleges and sixth form colleges
Provider’s name: Provider’s UKPRN:
Your management and governance arrangements
Briefly describe here your management and governance arrangements for your higher education provision. This should include a description of your management and governance structure for higher education and how you oversee partnership arrangements where you are the lead provider. In this section, you should describe the following:
details of any group structure
geographical spread of locations you operate at, including whether any of these are
overseas
size of your higher education provision in terms of numbers of staff, students, income and in
relation to your further education provision
number and type of partnerships.
For example: ‘We are a medium sized further education provider with a small proportion of higher education activity. Our higher education activity makes up x% of our provision with £xx in income, xx students, xx staff.’ ‘Our group structure looks like this [structure chart].’ ‘We have the following governing documents covering our higher education activity…’ ‘These set out that…’ ‘The body with ultimate decision making powers for our higher education activity is…’ ‘It delegates responsibility for a, b, c to x, y, z’ ‘These arrangements are appropriate for the size and complexity of our higher education activity because…’ In this section, you might want to refer to the following:
governing documents
committee structures
delegation arrangements
validation and subcontractual agreements where you are the lead provider
governance arrangements for any satellite campuses.
You do not need to submit any of these additional documents with your self-assessment but we
may ask to see these if we are not satisfied that you meet the condition, or if you are also applying
for degree awarding powers.
Self-assessment of your management and governance arrangements
Explain here how your management and governance arrangements for your HE provision are adequate and effective. An arrangement is ‘adequate’ if it is capable of delivering a stated or implied objective and ‘effective’ if it is delivering its stated or implied objective. If you follow a code of governance you can also use this as evidence by describing:
the name, date and version of any governance code you follow
how long you have used the code, how you monitor use of the code in your governance
arrangements and how you review the effectiveness of arrangements
outcomes of the most effectiveness review of the governing body and any subcommittees
(where appropriate).
For example: ‘We follow the [name of code] published [date].’ ‘We have used this code for x years and conduct a review of compliance every [review period]. Reviews are conducted by y and the results implemented by z.’ ‘This code is appropriate for our higher education activity because…’ ‘We do not meet the following elements of the code…because…but have the following alternative arrangements which we believe are appropriate because…’ ‘The most recent review showed…’ Or: ‘We don’t use a code of governance because….’ ‘We believe our management and governance arrangements for our higher education activity are adequate because…’ ‘We believe they are effective because…’ You do not need to submit any additional documents with your self-assessment but we may ask to see further evidence if we have any concerns that you do not satisfy the condition or if you are also applying for degree awarding powers.
Public interest governance principles
Explain here how your governing documents uphold the public interest governance principles relevant to your application (see list of principles below). Where your chosen code of governance does not meet all of the relevant public interest governance principles you will need to demonstrate how you meet the remaining principles.
Standard public interest governance principles: applicable to all providers
Academic freedom: Academic staff at an English higher education provider have freedom within the law: (a) to question and test received wisdom; and (b) to put forward new ideas and controversial or unpopular opinions; without placing themselves in jeopardy of losing their jobs or privileges they may have at the provider.
For example: ‘This is covered by our compliance with our chosen governance code which sets out…’ Or ‘Academic freedom is set out in xx document which states…’ Or ‘Academic freedom is not yet covered in our governing documents. To amend this we will… by [date]’
Accountability: The provider operates openly, honestly, accountably and with integrity and demonstrates the values appropriate to be recognised as an English higher education provider.
For example: ‘This is covered by our compliance with our chosen governance code which sets out…’ Or ‘Accountability is set out in xx document which states…’ Or ‘Accountability is not yet covered in our governing documents. To address this we will… by [date]’
Student engagement: The governing body ensures that all students have opportunities to engage with the governance of the provider, and that this allows for a range of perspectives to have influence.
Academic governance: The governing body receives and tests assurance that academic governance is adequate and effective through explicit protocols with the Senate/Academic Board (or equivalent).
Risk management: The provider operates comprehensive corporate risk management and control arrangements (including for academic risk) to ensure the sustainability of the provider’s operations, and its ability to continue to comply with all of its conditions of registration.
Value for money: The governing body ensures that there are adequate and effective arrangements in place to provide transparency about value for money for students and (where a provider has access to the student support system or to grant funding) for taxpayers.
Freedom of speech: The governing body takes such steps as are reasonably practicable to ensure that freedom of speech within the law is secured within the provider.
Governing body: The size, composition, diversity, skills mix, and terms of office of the governing body is appropriate for the nature, scale and complexity of the provider.
Fit and proper: Members of the Governing Body, those with senior management responsibilities, and individuals exercising control or significant influence over the provider, are fit and proper persons.
Additional public interest governance principle: providers authorised with degree awarding powers
Records: Where degree awarding powers are solely contained in the provider’s governing documents, and no order either under section 76 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, or under HERA exists, the provisions setting out those powers must be retained and may not be altered without the consent of the OfS
Additional public interest governance principles: providers in receipt of financial support
Independent members of the governing body: There must be at least one external member of the governing body who is independent of the provider, and whose term of office is normally limited to a maximum of three terms of three years or two terms of four years. For providers with large governing bodies, or more complex legal forms, additional independent members may be appropriate.
Regularity, propriety and value for Money: The governing body ensures that there are adequate and effective
arrangements in place to ensure public funds are managed appropriately, in line with the conditions of grant and the principles of regularity, propriety and value for money, and to protect the interests of taxpayers and other stakeholders. This also applies to any funds passed to another entity for the provision of facilities or learning and teaching, or for research to be undertaken.
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